What we do and don’t know about Microsoft’s Morro

Ars does a little digging to find out more about Microsoft's new security- …

With the details on Microsoft's decision this week to discontinue OneCare next year, as well as Symantec's and Kaspersky's thoughts on the decision, it's now time to focus on the product codenamed Morro. Microsoft has revealed very little about Morro so far, mainly because it isn't done. Here's what we know, and what Redmond still refuses to discuss.

What we know

Microsoft can't leave the security market altogether; that would go completely against the huge strides Redmond has made in security over the past couple of years. Enter Morro, a free real-time antimalware solution for consumers to be released in the second half of 2009. It will not be bundled with Windows, and will instead be available as a standalone download for Windows XP/Vista/7. It will be "built on Microsoft's award-winning malware protection engine and will take advantage of the same core antimalware technology that fuels the company's current line of security products," a Microsoft representative told Ars. Furthermore, as more people use Morro, Microsoft will gain access to a larger amount of data that it can then use in security research and improvement of other solutions like Forefront.

Morro won't compete with other security alternatives (which typically do more than just remove malware); Microsoft has given up competing in the security software industry and is aiming for those who currently don't have any sort of security protection. This is between 50 and 60 percent of Windows users, according to the company, either because they refuse to or can't pay for it. "In addition, we believe that many customers will wish to continue with 3rd party security and PC performance protection suites," the representative told us. In short, this should help the company avoid antitrust issues.

What we don't know

When I asked whether Microsoft would work with security vendors to make sure there are no incompatibility problems between Morro and third party solutions, how the company will promote Morro to consumers currently without any protection, whether Windows 7 will have download links for Morro similar to the Windows Live ones, or whether OEMs will be able to bundle Morro on new PCs, I received the standard "We will announce more details closer to the solution being available" response. What I found the most interesting though is that Microsoft wouldn't discuss how Morro would work with or replace Windows Defender if it is already installed (it can be downloaded and installed for XP, is bundled with Vista, and is supposed to ship with Windows 7). How will the two coexist together?

Morro may be a big story now because it came out of the blue, but a while after OneCare is killed, Morro will likely fall back into the shadows, just like Windows Defender did. Whether Microsoft will be able to make a difference with Morro will become clear as soon as we receive more details on the technology. We'll keep you posted.